New Zealand Prime Minister Uses Canned Spaghetti for Pizza Sauce

As if being upset by our world leaders’ political stances wasn’t enough, the latest global trend appears to be railing against their choice of pizza toppings as well. Back in February, the President of Iceland created an international incident by jokingly suggesting he’d be willing to approve legislation banning pineapple from pies nationwide. Now, the Prime Minister of New Zealand has the world on edge after using social media to show off how he makes his homemade pizza – using canned spaghetti instead of sauce.

On April 4, Bill English, who was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of New Zealand this past December, took to Facebook to show off his culinary chops. “Cooked dinner for the family last night,” he wrote, “like if you agree with tinned spaghetti on pizza!” The post included three photos, one of which clearly shows an uncooked crust prepared with canned spaghetti in lieu of sauce, as well as additional toppings which appear to be tomato, ham and pineapple. As freakish as this combination sounds, the “after” picture actually doesn’t look half-bad, and surprisingly does resemble a pizza.

Cooked dinner for the family last night - like if you agree with tinned spaghetti on pizza!

Though using the equivalent of Chef Boyardee spaghetti to make pizza might not fit most Americans’ sensibilities, plenty of people supported their Prime Minister and hit the like button: over 8,700 as of writing. Meanwhile, the frowny, shocked and sad faces got under 200 clicks combined, suggesting supporters far outnumbered the anti-spaghetti pizza crowd.

Still, for those left scratching their heads, it appears English wasn’t simply making the craziest pizza he could think of for shock value. According to the Guardian, canned spaghetti pizza may be a bit of a local tradition. English is from the small town of Dipton near the south end of New Zealand’s South Island: a place where locals suggest that tinned spaghetti and pineapple pizza is the norm. “Yup this is how we made pizzas growing up! Must be a Southland thing!” one woman is quoted as writing. “Still make them like this for my kids and they love them.”

So turns out using canned spaghetti as a pizza sauce might not be as crazy as we think. However, the fact that the only reason you know who the Prime Minister of New Zealand is because of how he makes his pizza… that’s definitely as crazy as you think.